RENSHUSEI FROM GERMANY: Oliver Schoemburg

Over the weekend Oliver Schoemburg, from Ahrensburg (Northern Germany) trained at my private dojo here in Oita City. I will not detail the time outside of the dojo with him and his lovely family, but I will briefly give an overview of the training.

Kihon was a large part of the practice, however, the overarching theme was 'technical moderation' and, at the heart of this, simplification. The three core techniques of Karate-Do: jun-zuki (oi-zuki), gyaku-zuki, and chudan mae-geri keage were given the greatest attention. Furthermore, zenkutsu-dachi and its various aspects (transitions from shomen, hanmi, gyaku-hanmi and unsoku/ashi-hakobi) in sonoba-kihon, ido-kihon and kumite were thoroughly addressed.

Supporting this training was a couple of imperative points in Kihon Ippon Kumite and the base understanding of the freestyle kamae in Jiyu Kumite; also, advanced practice of kata: Heian Shodan, Tekki Shodan and Hangetsu. Another theme trained, via kata, was "...waza no kankyu to achieve kime in every technique; in particular, during the execution of renzokuwaza". Indeed, all of these aspects were combined to work towards the physical aim of Budo Karate: Ichigeki-hissatsu.

In sum, Oliver did extremely well and has plenty of homework to take back to Germany for himself (and his students). おめでとうございます, 押忍! André.

© André Bertel. Oita City, Japan (2017).